The author this month is esteemed lawyer (and past State Bar President) Mark Harrison. He is a good writer, but to make his task easier, he wrote about a great woman—Lorna Lockwood.

Arizona’s first woman Chief Justice is described well in the book Lady Law, by author Sonja White David. Here is how Mark opens his review:

“In 1960, Lorna Lockwood became the first female Justice on the Supreme Court of Arizona. In 1965, she became the first female Chief Justice of any state Supreme Court in the nation. Justice Lockwood’s remarkable story is beautifully captured in Lady Law, a book written by Sonja White David, a resident of Mesa. In a way that Justice Lockwood surely would have appreciated, the author describes how a small-town girl from Douglas and Tombstone, Arizona, defied the odds and blazed the way for women in the law. In the process, Justice Lockwood left a significant and indelible mark on the law of Arizona.”

“Lady Law would be an enriching read for all Arizona lawyers, but it will be an inspiration for young girls and women. As Ms. David describes Justice Lockwood’s journey, she explains how Justice Lockwood was rebuffed and discouraged, not surprisingly by the male establishment, from pursuing her ambition to become a lawyer. As we now know, the pioneering role of Justice Lockwood was a harbinger of things to come; in the half century since Justice Lockwood was elected to the Supreme Court, the percentage of women in law schools has equaled and occasionally exceeded the percentage of men. In addition, women have come to play an increasingly influential role in the profession and on the judiciary.”

But today’s story came my way via The Puget Sound Business Journal. Mainstream? Yep.

The headline, though, reveals something of the oddity faced by a state that is flipping the switch on whether something is legal: “Marijuana experience required: WA recruiting experts to advise on legalization.”

As the majority of my high school graduating class sat up and took notice, the article explains:

“Washington is looking to hire experts in the marijuana industry to help the state Liquor Control Board get the tightly regulated state-licensed cannabis business up and running. Voters approved Initiative 502 to legalize, regulate and tax recreational marijuana in November. Since then, the state has issued a request for proposals to hire consultants who can advise the board on the nuances of establishing a successful, well-regulated system.”

Nuances. Uh-huh. I get it.

Washington’s Liquor Control Board is searching for consultants to help it create a legal marijuana industry. One part of the job would be coming up with regulations for edible products containing marijuana, like these available for medical-marijuana patients at CannaPi Consulting dispensary in Seattle. (Puget Sound Business Journal Photo | Anthony Bolante)

The reporter, Valerie Bauman, must have had some fun with the story, as she continues,

“Officials are hoping to assemble a consulting team that can demonstrate product and industry knowledge, among other skills that would indicate an intimate familiarity with the currently illegal market.”

Adding to the tongue-in-cheek hilarity is the image the newspaper selected: a retail reach-in case that contained snack foods—”munchies,” as we used to say at Arlington High School. The story explains that among the many things that will have to be regulated in the new legal regime will be “edible products containing marijuana.”

I suppose postings like these are what we may see in Arizona eventually. After all, every industry requires industry professionals. And those pros need to arrive with a skill set.

The first recommendation is an article by an accomplished expert who is not a lawyer himself. Brian K. Johnson, an award-winning author, instructs readers on how to communicate best with others on topics that may be complex. Titled “Lawyers Talking, Fast and Slow,” his article opens:

“When conferring with a lawyer, my brain is focused on just one thing: Help me figure out this thorny issue! Whether talking to my trust lawyer about choosing an executor, or the real estate lawyer who advises me about my 94-year-old father’s 40 acres of farmland with the problematic deed, my goal is the same. Has my money been well spent on sound advice?”

“Your clients most certainly share a similar desire. They need you to explain—clearly—an arcane or troublesome legal issue, and they want you to provide counsel on a course of action. Once the issue is fully dissected and understood, you and your client can figure out how to proceed.”

“Of course, all of that is more challenging than you might think.”

You’re not joking. The author is adept at setting out some lessons you wish were common sense but often are not.

The featured speaker will be Professor Martha Nussbaum of the University of Chicago. The lecture is free, but seats in the auditorium are now filled by registrants. Seats are still available in an overflow room, where the lecture will be live-streamed. Detail on the lecture is here. As the site indicates, an audio recording of the lecture will be available here soon after the event.

Here is more information from the law school:

Professor and Author Martha Nussbaum To Deliver Marks Lecture

Professor Martha Nussbaum, an internationally-recognized philosopher and award-winning author, will present the Isaac Marks Memorial Lecture at The University of Arizona James E. College of Law:

“The New Religious Intolerance”

Monday, January 28, 2013

5:30 – 6:30 pm

The University of Arizona Rogers College of Law

Ares Auditorium (Room 164)

1201 E Speedway, Tucson, AZ 85719

Seating is available on a first come, first served basis, and is limited. There will be a short reception immediately following the lecture.

Professor Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, appointed in the Law School and in the Philosophy Department. She is an Associate in the Classics Department, the Divinity School; and the Political Science Department, a Member of the Committee on Southern Asian Studies; and a Board Member of the Human Rights Program. Her studies have focused on ancient Greek philosophy; ethics; global justice; the emotions—including shame, disgust, and fear; animal rights; and religion.

She received her BA from NYU (1969) and her MA (1971) and PhD (1975) from Harvard. She has taught at Harvard, Brown, and Oxford Universities. From 1986 to 1993, Prof. Nussbaum was a research advisor at the World Institute for Development Economics Research in Helsinki, a part of the United Nations University. She has chaired the American Philosophical Association’s Committee on International Cooperation, the Committee on the Status of Women, and the Committee for Public Philosophy. Ms. Nussbaum has been a member of the Council of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is a member of the Board of the American Council of Learned Societies. She received the Brandeis Creative Arts Award in Non-Fiction for 1990, and the PEN Spielvogel-Diamondstein Award for the best collection of essays in 1991, her book, Cultivating Humanity won the Ness Book Award of the Association of American Colleges and Universities in 1998 and the Grawemeyer Award in Education in 2002. Sex and Social Justice won the book award of the North American Society for Social Philosophy in 2000. Hiding From Humanity won the Association of American University Publishers Professional and Scholarly Book Award for Law in 2004.

Professor Nussbaum has received honorary degrees from over forty colleges and universities in the US, Canada, Asia, Africa, and Europe. She received the Grawemeyer Award in Education in 2002, the Barnard College Medal of Distinction in 2003, the Radcliffe Alumnae Recognition Award in 2007, and the Centennial Medal of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University in 2010. She is an Academician in the Academy of Finland. In 2009, she won the A.SK award from the German Social Science Research Council (WZB) for her contributions to social system reform, and the American Philosophical Society’s Henry M. Phillips Prize in Jurisprudence for her lifetime contributions. In 2012, she was awarded Spain’s Prince of Asturias Prize in the Social Sciences.

Recent additions to her extensive list of publications include FromDisgust to Humanity: Sexual Orientation and Constitutional Law (2010), Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities (2010), Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach (2011), The New Religious Intolerance: Overcoming the Politics of Fear in an Anxious Age (2012), and Philosophical Interventions: Book Reviews 1985-2011 (2012). She has also edited fifteen books. Her current book in progress is Political Emotions: Why Love Matters for Justice, which will be published by Harvard in 2013.

The Annual Marks Memorial Lecture was established in 1979 by Selma Skora Paul Marks and the late Judge Jack Marks. They endowed the lecture series in memory of his father, Isaac Marks.

Last evening, theState Bar of Arizona hosted its first BLI Reunion. It’s the first such event since the Bar Leadership Institute was launched five years ago.

Since then, those five graduating classes of lawyers have become embedded in significant leadership positions within the Bar. More information on the BLI is here.

Last night’s mingling event was at the downtown Phoenix Sheraton, and it was a success from start to finish. Noteworthy is the camaraderie felt among all of the graduates, who clearly benefit from and enjoy the fellowship of their colleagues.

The event also featured a few (brief) speakers. They were BLI grads who shared a little about the exciting projects in which they are involved. More on that later, but for now, let me mention Ann-Marie Alameddin, who discussed a pro bono legal information clinic she manages; we may cover her work, and that of others, in an upcoming issue of Arizona Attorney Magazine.

Have a great weekend. Here are a few more photos.

Benjamin Taylor II, at right, at the State Bar BLI Reunion.

State Bar of Arizona President Amelia Craig Cramer speaks at BLI reunion.

“The Student Appeal is an online law journal that publishes legal articles and editorials discussing law and policy issues, law school, and different legal careers available to JDs. We welcome submissions from all members of the legal community, American and international.”